This blog was updated on June 22nd, 2018.
Cold Calling 2.0
3 Ways to Keep Cold Calling Current
If you do a Google search on cold calling you’ll find a ton of articles and blogs on the subject, all offering varying opinions on whether or not cold calling is a dying practice:
Like most things, there is a time and a place for cold calling, and it must be adapted and refined as we move into the Sales 2.0 era.
Here are three ways to adapt your current cold calling techniques:
1. Cold Calling should be used in conjunction with Inbound Marketing
There are so many ways to connect with prospects now (email marketing automation, social media, web technology, etc.) that most will have heard of you or done some research before you even end up getting them on the phone. This leads to a couple of things. You’re probably getting a higher number of inbound leads, and not many calls are actually “cold” anymore.
If you choose to pass all of these inbound leads directly to your sales team they will pick through the hottest ones and leave the rest sitting untouched in your CRM. This is where an effective “cold” calling strategy can come into play. Having the right qualification process in place ensures that these inbound leads can be followed-up with at the right time. With your inside sales team acting as an extension of your marketing department you can increase the ROI of your existing marketing campaigns and increase the effectiveness of your account executives.
2. Cold calling can be replaced with “smart calling”
The term “cold calling” seems intimidating, intrusive and not much fun. It can have a bit of a negative connotation as well. In the past, it was common for inside reps to call through a cold list of 200 prospects, delivering the same canned message to anyone that picked up the phone. It was a complete numbers game.
Instead of focusing solely on volume, try focusing on the quality of the calls instead with “smart calling”. With the right amount of research (LinkedIn, articles, press releases, twitter, etc.) you can find out a little bit about the person you are calling and tailor your message to engage with them more quickly. For example, maybe you went to the same college or perhaps they worked at a company that your former colleague works for. You might find something that will warm up your call and help you to stand out.
3. Cold Calling shouldn’t be looked at as a “one and done” activity
Part of this new age of cold calling means that you need to look at it as just one part of the process. There needs to be a strategic plan in place that involves multiple touch points, nurturing campaigns and targeted messaging. Cold calling a prospect once or twice and never reaching out again will not lead to a consistent pipeline. As you work through your defined call plan you will end up creating a list of warm leads that will go into your nurture campaigns and various call cadences. They need a lot more than just a couple of cold calls to understand the value your product could bring them, and by utilizing both inbound and outbound strategies together, that information is more likely to reach them.
